


tale as old as time

by patriciaselina



Series: Once Upon A Time In Iwatobi [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: (i'm looking at you kaede), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Disney References, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Character Douchebaggery, POV Third Person, Princes & Princesses, she's Important, the little white kitten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-10-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 04:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1591568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patriciaselina/pseuds/patriciaselina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a young prince devastated after his father’s death shuns an erstwhile stranger from his castle, and gets a curse set on him and his entire castle in return. The mechanics are like this: Prince Rin is now a hideous beast, his servants and friends now an array of sentient household objects, and his little sister’s life hangs in the balance. The catch: he has to fall in love and be loved in return before his twenty-first birthday. But who on earth could possibly ever love a beast?</p><p>Enter Makoto, a handsome young man from a nearby village who willingly gives himself up to save his trespassing best friend from imprisonment. Maybe there might be some hope for Rin after all?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First half of my MakoRin “Beauty and the Beast” AU! Hope you like this!
> 
> The second half would probably have quicker pacing, but for now – well, I haven’t written this much in third-person for a very long time, I hope I did this right, and I hope you like it!
> 
> Note: I know KyoAni spells his name "Sosuke", but I am more comfy with using "Sousuke", so I'm calling him that for this. Please note that as Free!ES has yet to air, Sousuke's personality in here is solely my headcanon. (As is Kaede's, since we never really got to know that dude and as such his persona here is more based off Gaston's than anything.)

It’s a small town with an even smaller population, and so anything that differs even slightly from the well-preserved norm sticks out like a sore thumb. Like flower bushes stubbornly remaining in full bloom come winter. Like – it has to be said – a pineapple slice resting peacefully above a fillet of mackerel.

So when a pair of young men moves into a small cottage right outside the town limits – a tall brunet with the kindest of smiles and a darker brunet with flashing ocean blue eyes – they are accorded with the full amount of attention that might be allowed the most delicate of scientific experiments.

This goes doubly so for the taller brunet, with his grass-green eyes and soft features that easily rival that of the village beauties, contrasting nicely with his tall frame and the impressive physique his cheap shapeless clothes can only vaguely hint at. This young man’s name is Makoto. He smiles at everyone and greets them hello but never seems to stray far from the cottage for long, buys fish all the time without fail and really, _really_ likes cats.

He has been agreed upon to be undeniably, _inhumanly_ handsome, but still, an anomaly. A _handsome_ anomaly.

Common village knowledge goes that if one were to look for Makoto, one need only to look for the twenty-and-upwards cats trailing in his wake. This is how Kaede, the village hunter, catches up with him.

“I can’t believe how you keep up with all these whelps, Makoto.” Kaede says, clicking his tongue with the disappointment of all the village mothers _. Look at that strapping young man, doing such feminine things! What a disgrace_. “Don’t you have better things to do?”

“Oh, lots and lots,” Makoto replies, breezily, scratching the scruff of an orange tabby’s neck. “But I don’t see the harm in letting loose once in a while.”

“ _Speaking_ of letting loose...” Kaede drawls, throwing the kitten in his hands with a disgusted sneer, accidentally-unintentionally draping an arm over Makoto’s shoulder. Makoto doesn’t like Kaede, but as things are he is doing a spectacular, diplomatic job of not punching Kaede in the presumptuous, heartless, _cat-throwing_ face. “...what d’you say we go to the tavern? Look at my trophies, ‘ave a few pints...y’know, get to _know each other better_.” He punctuates this last part with an unsubtle roll of his hips against Makoto’s side.

Makoto, in turn, gently but firmly manages to extract himself from the hunter’s grasp, and though, yes, he _does_ understand what the other man is implying – it’s a secret to no one that Kaede has always wanted to take Makoto, _all_ of Makoto, for himself – Makoto also does a pretty good show of having it fly over his perfectly windswept-haired head.

“Maybe another time, Kaede,” Makoto replies, to the backing vocals of a disappointed populace _(“Is he crazy?” “He must be.” “Kaede’s gorgeous!”)_ “Haru’s getting back from his trip today, and I have to get ready for him.”

“Yeah, you _better_ get ready for him.” Kaede scoffs. Haru – or rather, _Haruka_ – is Makoto’s housemate, the one with the bright blue eyes, who never talks or smiles and goes off on week-long expeditions to find the ocean. With his love for mackerel and water and (presumably) nothing else, nobody likes him much, if at all. Especially Kaede, who _hates_ him for the fact that Haru’s the one who gets to share a home with Makoto, and because when he puts his mind to it Haru’s actually a better hunter than Kaede is. “Maybe one day you’d have to prepare for that loon’s _funeral_ , now won’t that be a treat.”

How disrespectful.

As Makoto stands up to his full height Kaede doesn’t even get enough time to realize the enormity of his mistake: that aside from mackerel and water, Haruka loves _Makoto_ with an almost single-minded intensity, and so it would stand to follow that such love is reciprocated.

Makoto’s kind green eyes turn into narrowed slits as he says, slowly, carefully, almost _coldly_ : “Don’t you _dare_ talk about Haruka that way again.” He then turns away with a flood of kittens following suit, and the _“or else I’ll rip you completely apart”_ hangs in the air between himself and Kaede like the blade above a guillotine.

What you don’t know is that when Makoto leaves, Kaede, seething in his anger and jealousy, devises a plot to have him and keep Haruka out of the picture. When one looks at that, what happens next turns out to be a blessing in disguise – only when viewed in hindsight, though. Only then.

It’s not as much as a blessing when viewed up close, though, because this is what is happens next – six days have passed, and this is the seventh already, and Haruka still hasn’t gone home.

Now, Makoto’s never been one for expeditions, himself. This is the reason why Haruka gets to go on his trips unaccompanied, and why despite not-quite-fitting-in Makoto never strays very far from this town.

But...this is Haruka. So Makoto goes.

Haruka, Makoto’s brother in all the ways that matter but blood, and as it is he’s all Makoto’s got left and losing Haru would destroy him. So Makoto saddles his horse and leaves without ever turning back.

.

.

.

The castle is something out of the horror stories children talk about when nobody's listening - spiky towers and thunderclaps aplenty - and when Makoto sees it he can't help but shiver. But  _Haruka might be here_ , so he squares his shoulders and carry on. Tries not to gulp at the way the lightning bolts reflect off the dusty stained glass windows like Makoto’s worst nightmares bounce off between the empty spaces in his head.

The first thing Haruka says when he sees Makoto is “You're not supposed to be here.”

“But I  _am_  supposed to be, Haru? I mean, look at you. I've gotta get you out of here.”

Haruka shakes his head. “You can't.”

If Makoto weren't so focused on checking on the hinges of the cellar door he’d have heard the footfalls from the far corner - heavy, quick, and not-quite-human. But as things are Makoto doesn’t hear the other man approaching. Not until he bellows.

“ _WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CASTLE??_ ”

“I’ve come for my brother,” Makoto hears himself say, hands shaking as he cups Haru’s cheeks from between the metal rails. Haru’s skin feels like ice. This is _not_ supposed to be happening. “He’s cold…and weak…can’t you see he’s sick?”

“Well, then maybe he shouldn’t have swum in other people’s territory, then.” the voice scoffs, its bearer’s heavy footprints echoing like thunderclaps in the empty hall. “‘S no use, there’s nothing you can do – he’ll never get outta here for as long as he lives.”

 _No_ , Makoto thinks _, I am **not** going to let this happen_. Haru is bright and full of potential and meant for bigger things, and as long as Makoto draws breath he is not going to let Haru rot in a damp dank cell in the middle of nowhere.

“There must be something I can do.”

“Nope, there isn’t, your bro’s my prisoner now. Off with you now, boy.” the voice growls, as its – _his_? – footfalls draw nearer. There’s a very large shadow on the floor, barely hinting at the immense size, and rightfully Makoto should be scared out of his mind but he considers Haru’s life more important than his survival instinct. So when the idea cones to him – it’s never been much of a choice.

“Wait!” Makoto cries out, and in the silence between the voice’s thundering footsteps and the drumming noise of his heartbeat, he lays out his proposition like a trail of breadcrumbs. An offering, a compromise. “Take – take _me_ , instead.”

“ _You_?” the voice roars, and this is normally the part where Makoto would shake in his boots and run away quickly, but instead he squares his shoulders and stands his ground because he is not allowing Haru to be anything but _free_.

“ _You_...” the voice repeats, slower, almost thoughtfully, _disbelievingly_ , a complete turnaround from his growling earlier. “You would _do_ that?”

“ _If_ I did that,” Makoto says, willing his voice not to shake and his face not to show emotion, “would you let him go?”

“Yes,” the other man tells Makoto, all too quickly, his voice thrumming with unfamiliar emotion. If Makoto had not been terrified then he would have picked up on the unsubtle note of _excitement_ lacing the other man’s voice. “But you have to promise to stay here forever.”

Makoto’s heard of stories along this vein, before. A beautiful maiden doomed to share a house with nothing but a dark looming presence for company. He’s no maiden, that’s for sure, and he is definitely not going to commit to this without at least seeing the other man’s face.

“Come into the light, so that I may see you,” Makoto says.

And just as quickly finds himself regretting doing so. Makoto’s a tall man, himself, tallest in the village, but this man looms a good foot over him. Actually to call this being just a ‘man’ doesn’t at all make up for it – this being in front of Makoto, with his wine-red fur, sharp claws, curving horns and jagged teeth, is nothing less than a _beast_. Makoto can’t help but recoil, press a hand to his heart in an attempt to calm it.

Haru reads the emotions spelled across Makoto’s face as easily as Makoto’d always done Haru’s; it pains Makoto that this may be the last time Haru could use this ability, but above everything else, _Haru is supposed to be free_. “ _No_ , Makoto,” Haru says, shaking his head rapidly, reaching out to hold both Makoto’s hands in his. “No. _Stop_. I won’t let you do this.”

“Swim away for me, Haru.” Makoto murmurs, caressing Haru’s cheek. It’s the same thing Haru’s grandmother told them both when she was dying and they were still for all intents and purposes on the run; from the startled look in Haru’s eyes, Makoto knows that the weight of these words isn’t lost on him. “Be free.”

Makoto turns away from Haru, from the center of his universe, from the disapproval rolling off him like waves. _He’ll understand why I have to do this_ , Makoto thinks. _He **always** does_. Makoto faces the beast once more, looks him into his surprisingly lively eyes that match prettily with the color of his coat. “I give you my word.”

“Consider it done,” the beast replies, and all but shoves Makoto away to unlock the dungeon door that holds Haru – for Heaven’s sake, _Haru_ , sleepless and exhausted but whole, mercifully whole, free, now, as well – and just as Makoto’s about to reach out, cup his brother’s face in his hands to say goodbye, the beast looks down his largest window, Haru’s collar still in one furry paw, and then.

Then. Then he tosses Haru down the window. Makoto hears Haru scream his name as he plummets down, and in a rush Makoto shoves the beast away from the window to look for Haru, he doesn’t even care what the beast does to him anymore; how dare he does that, how dare he _kills Haru_ after he promised, _he goddamned promised_.

“ ** _Haru!!_ ” **Makoto screams at the top of his lungs, and his heart only restarts when he sees that Haru has landed on what seems to be a boat lined with cushions. That’s nice, but would it have killed the beast to lead Haru down the staircase instead? That would’ve been kinder on Makoto’s heart rate.

But then again, this _is_ the beast who now keeps him prisoner. Not someone one would call ‘kind’.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” the beast growls, teeth bare and haunches raised. He kind of reminds Makoto of the time when Kaede deprived one of his kittens of the fish Makoto gave him, and little mister Midori had looked very much like how the beast does now – only with a great difference in sizes. “Yeah, I know, I’m a goddamned hideous beast, but still – why the hell are you glaring at me?”

“I’m never gonna see Haru again, y’know,” Makoto says, tears glinting in his eyes, surprisingly managing to show anger in the face of this beast and his impressive display. But then again, Makoto’s already lost Haruka, and his freedom, what’s the worst that could happen? “I didn’t even get to say goodbye. _Thank you_ for that.”

The sarcasm in that statement isn’t lost on the beast, because he now wears an ugly sneer. “ _You’re welcome_ ,” he bites back, equally as insincere. “Especially since I got you an actual freaking room, yanno, one with glass windows and a bed that isn’t made out of goddamned hay.”

“But – a room? I thought I was…”

“My prisoner, yes. But do you wanna stay in the tower?”

“Err…no?”

“Well then. Follow me.”

.

.

.

This is the conversation Makoto doesn’t get to hear, because since the beast growled that Makoto was to be required to eat with him at dinner, and slammed the door behind him, Makoto’s been way too busy sobbing into his new prison room’s fluffy white pillows.

“Why isn’t he here yet?” growled the beast, who had been pacing in front of his lavishly wide fireplace for the last few minutes now. “I told him he had to have dinner with me. Why isn’t he here yet?”

“You know, you have to cut him some slack, Rin-Rin,”

“My name is _not_ Rin-Rin!” the beast – _Rin_ – roars in reply, almost toppling over a slim, elegantly midnight-blue grandfather clock, and the burnished gold candelabra beside it.

“…but your name is Rin so I don’t see what the problem is? Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to call you Rin-chan, then.” says…the _candelabra_ , oddly, for it doesn’t _just_ speak, it also _moves_ and has distinguishable facial features and brightly colored eyes that almost look a dark fuchsia in the light of the roaring fireplace. “Anyway, back to what I was saying. You’re gotta cut him some slack. Mako-chan’s lost both his Haru-chan, _and_ his freedom, in a single night! If it were me I’d be inconsolable.”

“Nagisa, when you woke up as a candlestick I think the first thing you did was light the dress your sisters left behind on fire.” Rin deadpans, his blank eyes at a complete odds with his wild mane of wine-red fur.

“Well, the shock kicked in a few minutes after that,” Nagisa says, carelessly, seemingly waving away the thought with a frantic gesture of his smaller, hand-like, candleholders.

“Rin-san, your Highness,” starts the grandfather clock beside Nagisa-the-candelabra, seemingly choosing his words carefully. “Have you ever thought that…well, this man might be the one meant to break the spell?”

Rin only scoffs. “Of course I have, Rei, for Heaven’s sake, I’m not completely goddamned stupid.” As an afterthought he adds, “And for the love of God stop calling me fancy titles. We grew up together, you dork.”

“That’s good then!” Nagisa pipes up, the flames of his candles burning brighter and brighter, just like how they always did when he was excited. “So: you fall for Mako-chan, who falls for you in turn – and hey presto! I bet you’d get the spell broken by midnight!”

“It isn’t that easy, Nagisa-kun,” Rei mutters, rolling his eyes, which upon further inspection seem to be a vivid purple color. “You should know well as I do that proper romances take time.”

“Augh, it’s goddamned hopeless.” Rin says, gritting his sharp teeth, clawing at his unruly mane frantically. “Just…he’s just so goddamned _beautiful_ , and…well, look at me!”

So Rei and Nagisa did.

“What – you _idiots_ – I didn’t mean _look at me literally_ , god, surely ten years had been enough to drill into your sorry brains the fact that I’m _repulsive and hideous_?”

“Aww, but Rin-chan, you gotta let him look _past_ all that!” Nagisa interjects excitedly. “I mean c’mon. We all know you’re a jerk, but you’re really a big softie deep down. As in, really, really, _really_ deep down. Underneath all that fur, you’re secretly a nice person.”

Rin sighed and thoroughly regretted existing. “Nice persons don’t get cursed outta their heaven-sent good looks, Nagisa.” Why did Nagisa just _have_ to stay over on the night he got this damned curse a decade ago? Rei’s fine, all right, even if he did get turned into a grandfather clock and suddenly became 200% clumsier, but Nagisa…to say that Nagisa was a bother would be an understatement.

Just then what seems to be a...silver tea-kettle...comes bouncing in the doors. “Your guest isn’t coming down for dinner, Rin.”

As Rin bounds through the staircase in a fit of rage (with Rei wailing “Your Highness! Err...Rin-san! Please slow down!” as he trails fitfully behind), the tea-kettle only sighs and trips Rin not a moment too soon before he removes Makoto’s bedroom door clean off its hinges.

“What the – goddamnit – _Sousuke_?”

“Hey, ‘cuz, had to. You weren’t stopping.” the tea-kettle shrugs; that was still apparently a thing he could do. “Dragging him outta his room to force him into having a dinner with you _might_ not be the best way to get him to love you forever.”

Rin growls, and goes about carefully enunciating each of his words with a sharp jab of a claw towards the offending door. “But he’s being so goddamned difficult!”

“Calm down, Rin-chan,” Nagisa says, making a big show of breathing deeply. “Big calming breaths.”

“Please, Rin-san.” Rei begs, his metal appendages clasped together as if in prayer. “At least _attempt_ to be a gentleman.”

Rin grits his teeth, clenches his paws almost painfully, and makes an attempt as his friends look on in bated breath.

“Will you have dinner with me?”

Sousuke stage-whispers, “You say that with ‘ _please_ ’, Rin.”

“...please “ Rin parrots, the word rolling strangely off his tongue as if it doesn’t belong there. “Will you have dinner with me, please?”

From behind the door comes a muffled sniffle, and a weak voice saying, “I’m sorry, sir, I have to beg off dinner for today.”

Rin’s seething, about to bite back with some angry remark somewhere along the lines of Makoto being one enormous and frightfully handsome ingrate, and that it was _rude_ to destroy someone’s mental processes with such _arresting_ green eyes and the _least_ Makoto could do in return would be to go to this one measly dinner with him, but Sousuke trips him, again.

“Don’t give me that face, ‘cuz. Remember the manners I was hounded into teaching you, I swear to god.”

Rin hisses, but colors and does nothing more but clench his paws tighter as he once more grits his fangs to speak. “It would be...a great honor...if you were to join me in having dinner.”

“Never heard Rin-chan speak that softly before,” Nagisa whispers.

“Sousuke-san had _always_ been a very good teacher,” Rei whispers back.

“I’m...honored to hear you say that, sir.” they hear Makoto say from behind the door, his voice still marred by the occasional sniffle. “But I’m really not hungry.”

Because Makoto’s luck seems to like holding out on him, that is, of course, the time when his stomach growls, the sound obvious and unmistakable even when heard behind the bedroom door.

That’s when Rin’s tentative calmness splits cleanly in two, and he _roars_. “What do you take me for, a goddamned fool? You just don’t wanna eat with me, ‘cuz I’m a bloody ugly beast, huh? _HUH_?”

“No, sir, it’s just – well, it’s just that with everything happening right now –”

“I’ll give you a brilliant example of what’s happening right now! I am running out of patience to deal with your shitty excuses!”

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa hisses, in a low whisper, “I _thought_ you said Sou-chan was a good teacher?”

“ _Yes_ , Nagisa-kun.” Rei hisses back. “Notice that I did _not_ , however, say that _Rin-san_ had _ever_ been a good _student_.”

“Sir, if you could please just listen – today has been a rather tiring night, I’m really just going to sleep this off –”

“Fine. That’s what you want? That’s what you want. Fine. Listen to this very carefully, boy: if you don’t eat with me, you don’t eat at all.” Rin growls. “So I hope you enjoy _starving_.”

Exactly ten minutes after Rin stomps off into an angry huff, Rei breaks the silence. “Did he say that we had to be the ones carrying out the observance that rule, or...?”

“Nah, Rin-chan didn’t say anything.” Nagisa replies, breezily. “I am surprised at you, though, Rei-chan. I never thought you had it in you to go against Rin-chan!”

“I’m not ‘going _against_ ’ Rin-san, as you so crudely put it.” Rei huffs. “It’s just that I don’t think Rin-san was acting like an ideal dinner companion. What do you think, Sousuke-san?”

“I think,” Sousuke says, leaning against the bedroom door, “that it’s time we introduce ourselves. Aiichirou-kun, c’mere!”

A silver teacup, sleek and elegant and matching Sousuke’s tea-kettle in every aspect save the gleaming aquamarines set in the teacup’s handle, suddenly goes bounding down the hallway, coming to a stop at Sousuke’s side.

“You called, Sousuke- _senpai_?”

“Our Rin’s being spectacularly rude to his guest, so we’re gonna pick up the slack for him.” Sousuke explains, tilting himself to pour warm tea into the little teacup. “Poor guy sounds thirsty, for one.”

Rei knocks on the door with one of his metal arms, and calls out to the man who they know is still sniffling and listening behind the door. “Excuse me, Makoto-san. This is Rei – we’ve brought you tea, if you don’t mind. Can you please let us in?”

The first thing that Makoto thinks when he opens the door is that it is so very weird that there’s a silver teacup and teapot lying on the floor without so much as a tray separating it from said marble floor.

“Oh hello Mako-chan! Rin-chan was right: you really _are_ a cutie!”

The second thing is – and this is _very_ _important_ – that Makoto is _absolutely sure_ he lives in a world where candelabras don’t _speak_ and grandfather clocks don’t _smile_.

Tea sets don’t bounce across the room and jump to one’s bedside table either, not in this world, but that’s what’s happening right now and Makoto has no idea if he’s supposed to be amazed or terrified. “What the – but how?”

“Oh, it’s a very long story, Makoto – your name is Makoto, right? – but it all boils down to this: Rin has _always_ been very bad at dealing with guests.” says the tea-kettle in front of him. “Here, have some tea.”

“Thank you...oh,” Makoto says, noticing that the tea cup seems to be looking at him with curious eyes. In fact the candelabra and grandfather clock and tea set are looking at him with curious eyes and _wow_ that’s a sentence Makoto never expected he’d need to use _ever_. “Hello...?”

“I’m Aiichirou.” the tea cup says, beaming. “Before anything I just want you to know that I think it was a really brave thing you did, saving your brother.”

“We _all_ thought it was very noble of you, Makoto-san,” the grandfather clock nods along with him, and Makoto notices that this was the one who referred to himself as ‘ _Rei_ ’ earlier. “We’re all in awe of you.”

“Yeah, no one’s ever talked back to Rin that way,” scoffs the tea-kettle. “Except maybe _me_ , but then again I’m family.”

“... _Rin_?”

“Oh right, he was too busy roaring to introduce himself, yeah? Rin’s the large redhead who threw a hissy fit when you didn’t come to dinner. I’m Sousuke, his cousin, and these are our friends Nagisa and Rei.”

“Ah, you look really tired.” Nagisa says, his branched arms crossed in thought. “You’re really hungry, aren’t you, Mako-chan?”

The truth is Makoto’d rather _not_ be called ‘ _Mako-chan_ ’, but...Nagisa sounds so earnest that he’s just gonna let it slide. “I am hungry. It’s just that I’m embarrassed to let Rin-san see how hungry I am right now. He might throw me out of the castle for being rude.”

“Well, if you’re going to get thrown out eventually your hunger better be well-satiated, in any case.” Rei deadpans. “Aiichirou-kun, tell Goro-san to get dinner reheated for us, please?”

“Got it!” Aiichirou beams as he hops down from Makoto’s hand to race down the hallway. “See you later, Makoto-san!”

“You guys are really hard workers, aren’t you?” Makoto says, whistling at how quick the castle comes to life around him, on their way to the dining hall.

“Yeah, of course, ‘cuz we’re gonna celebrate you being here, for one, with a really elaborate number.” Nagisa says, smiling, as he re-lights his candlesticks. “The full song-and-dance regalia.”

“But Nagisa-kun,” Rei protests, weakly, “What if Rin-san finds out?”

“Ahh, but Rin-chan’s sleeping, Rei-chan!” Nagisa says, playfully bopping on what might have been Rei’s nose had they been human. “And you know well as I do that it’d take something more drastic than a little bit of song-and-dance to wake him.”

.

.

Makoto promised Rei and Nagisa that he’d go straight to bed after those two and their furniture-and-fixture companions gave him a grand song-and-dance-and-eat spectacle for dinner. He also promised them that he wouldn’t go to places he wasn’t supposed to be, the gleaming sharpness of the beast’s fangs taunting Makoto’s brain like some grim reminder.

But the point is, he’s still awake, and he’s right here.

In the very place the beast had told Makoto he was not allowed to go.

If Makoto were to be a self-serving person, he’d blame the cat.

But it isn’t exactly her fault that she was so _white_ and _tiny_ and absolutely cuddle-worthy, and it wasn’t her fault that Makoto’d chased after her in a mad dash because he just knew he _had_ to pet her if it were the last thing he was going to do, and it wasn’t her fault that she ultimately ended up bringing Makoto to the forbidden West Wing, out of breath and thoroughly lost.

Then again maybe it _is_ her fault. But as things are Makoto’s just too kind to blame her.

The little white kitten seems to realize just exactly where she’s ended up bringing Makoto to, because she looks at the stone gargoyles and stifling darkness looming over them and hides behind Makoto’s leg with a terrified meow.

“Shh, darling, sweetie, c’mere, it’s all right...” Makoto croons, bundling up the furry little blob in his big arms. “Makoto’s got you. We’re gonna be fine...”

An erstwhile breeze blows a tattered, suspiciously dark-stained curtain in a manner one might describe as ‘foreboding’.

“...at least I _hope_ we’re gonna be fine.” Makoto mutters, absently scratching at the scruff of the little kitten’s neck. “Now where’d we come running from, my little sweetheart?”

They end up at the very end of the hallway, at a pair of very imposing doors with a doorknob strangely sculpted to mimic the shape of the beast’s head. Makoto can’t help but shudder, but it’s not like he knows a better place to go, so he gulps and opens the door.

…only to be shocked speechless by the sight before him.

It’s a girl, her eyes closed; she appears to be sleeping. Her long red hair frames her face like the petals of some beautiful red flower, and her body is draped with beautiful green fabrics. Floating for some reason, she looks beautiful. Ethereal, even. This effect is however negated when Makoto realizes that she’s stuck in a glass tube, like some genetic experiment gone crazy.

The little kitten snuggles deeper into Makoto’s arms – he won’t blame her, the poor dear’s probably terrified, no doubt about it – as Makoto walks closer. What’s the beast – no, _Rin_ – doing, keeping young girls in glass tubes hidden in his castle?

Just when Makoto is about to realize the telling similarities of the sleeping girl’s hair and the color of the beast’s coat, as well as their similarity to the color of the hair of the young boy whose tattered portrait hangs behind the glass tube, he suddenly realizes that he is no longer alone in the room.

“What are you doing here,” Rin growls, deceptively calm in a way that makes Makoto’s blood run cold.

“I – I got lost, sir, please, you have to let me explain –”

“I tell you to go anywhere you like save this one place, and what do you know you are very damned good at not following simple instructions!”

“Please, I was really just about to go back to my room –”

“Get out.”

“Excuse me, sir?”

“You heard me the first time. _GET OUT OF MY CASTLE_!”

Now, Makoto promised that he’d stay in the castle forever, and when he makes a promise, despite growling beasts and mysterious instructions, he doesn’t ever dare break it. But upon Rin’s massive roar the little kitten in Makoto’s arms yelps and runs off, down the hallways, and Makoto follows after her in a mad dash.

 _Oh great_ , Rin thinks, _I just scared the really hot guy off my property and I’m never gonna see him again, an A+ job at socializing there, Rin_.

“Rin,” Sousuke chides, entering the room just as Rin puts his face in his paws, distraught. “What did you just do?”

“Well –” Rin starts; still fuming despite the obvious regret that Sousuke can see bubbling behind his stubborn eyes. “– well, the guy saw Gou! Even after I told him not to come here…it was my only instruction and look how great he was at following that!”

“That wasn’t your _only_ instruction, ‘cuz.” Sousuke chides. “Remember the whole ‘ _if you don’t eat with me you don’t eat at all_ ’ shtick you had going on earlier?”

“I obviously didn’t mean _that_ ,” Rin huffs, flopping down onto his massive bed with a stubborn pout.

“Yeah, sure, obvious to _you_ , but not to _him_ , that’s for sure.” Sousuke says, looking out the window, where Makoto is faithfully and diligently chasing the kitten on her run past the castle gates. “Huh. The little white kitten had always been Gou’s favourite, right?”

“ _Has_. _Has_ always been. My little sister’s still alive.” Rin corrects, half-heartedly. His little sister was floating in some glass tube in some freaky kind of eternal sleep that would only be broken if Rin fell in love or something – does that even still count in the definition of being ‘alive’? “But yeah. Why’d you ask?”

“Because your new guest is chasing her, so they could both return to the palace grounds I think, and from what I’m seeing it looks like the kitten’s making her way to the woods by now.”

“…so he’s gonna run out on me. Typical. Let him be.”

“Are you really fine with that, Rin? There are a lot of _wolves_ out there…”

“…”

“But then again…maybe when Gou wakes up she won’t be missing her darling little pet, huh?”

“…”

“And sure, maybe Makoto-san really _doesn’t_ wanna come back and get to know you after all! Even when I _distinctly_ heard him say at dinner that he wishes you weren’t _really_ mad at him ‘cause he’d like to make friends with you, at least…”

“…”

“Yeah, it’s totally fine to just let him run off, right, Rin? You don’t, like, _have a crush on him_ or something like that _at all_ , right?”

“Shut up, Sousuke, fine, goddamnit, you win.” Rin seethes, taking his cloak and walking briskly through the halls at a rate that’d almost be termed as _running_. “I’ll get him.”

“That’s my boy,” Sousuke says, grinning. Obviously he had hit a sore spot with that one, but at least Rin would save Makoto from the wolves and everything would turn out all right now.

Now for the fun part.

.

.

.

 _The fun part_ , as it turns out, is watching Prince Rin, firstborn of the house of Matsuoka, seven-foot-tall resident beast with large pointy fangs and razor sharp claws, cower at the sight of Makoto holding a warm-water dampened rag.

“Hold still,” Makoto says, softly, gently, being a calming presence as seems to be his specialty. While this does wonders with Rin’s overall jitteriness, it does nothing to silence the ferocious roar that comes forth when Makoto’s rag lands the barest of feather-light touches on Rin’s wounded arm.

As it turns out, ten years of being a growly scary beast has done nothing to cure Sousuke’s little cousin’s aversion to all things medical. At that the tea-kettle couldn’t help but smile – good to see that even after all these years, some things really don’t change.

“ _That **hurts** goddamnit_!”

“Well,” Makoto snaps back, improbable anger bubbling in his tone, and _holy shit_ whycan’t Rin help but think that that’s kinda hot? “If you’d only stayed still, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt as much!”

“If you didn’t go running outta the castle, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened!” Rin seethes, matching Makoto’s tone perfectly.

“Well then if you hadn’t thrown such a fit, then maybe you wouldn’t have scared off poor little Shirou-chan!” Makoto says, gesturing to where the tiny kitten is cowering behind his leg. “And _then_ I wouldn’t have had to go out of the castle. Even _after_ you _kindly_ told me to leave.”

“…”

“I don’t break promises, I’ll have you know.”

“Fine. _Fine_. You win. Go on with your…devil’s cloth, right now.” Rin says, sulkily handing out his injured, wolf-bitten arm for Makoto to clean, as his friends look on excitedly. Damn them all. Rin knows why they’re all so excited – knows that they know him well enough to read the _obvious_ crush he has on Makoto spelled clearly on his face, and then some – but for all his grousing he doesn’t think he can bring himself to care.

Makoto’s not only physically handsome and innately noble, he’s also the kind of person who’d drag a wounded snarling beast back to his castle even after said beast roared at him to leave and had been a complete and total jerk to him for no reason at all, and to be honest it’d have been even more surprising if after all this happened Rin _wasn’t_ falling in love somehow.

As Rin continues hissing every time the warm fabric touches his wounds, Makoto steals a look at his wincing face and speaks softly. “By the way, sir, I thank you. For saving my life out there.”

The littleness of Makoto’s voice at that moment has a really strange effect on Rin, like what he really wants to do now is hold Makoto in his arms and never let go like some overly-attached gigantic polar bear, but Rin manages to fight through those urges and eventually realizes that what he really wants right now, that he really _wants_ and _needs_ and _has_ to hear right now, is how his name would sound coming from Makoto’s lips. “You’re welcome. You can call me Rin.”

“Rin…” Makoto trails off. “Thank you, Rin. You can call me Makoto, but…my friends call me Mako.”

There’s some kind of hidden meaning in that line, but Makoto is way too honest of a person to actually properly, cryptically _do_ hidden meanings, so Rin gets it right away. So now the question really isn’t whether or not Rin has a crush on Makoto, because he obviously does – it’s whether or not he wants to be friends with this guy…?

The answer, it turns out to be, is _yes_.

“You’re welcome, Mako.”

And it all starts from there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was supposed to be posted earlier, but i lost the latest draft when my laptop crashed?? That's why this chap kinda jumps around a lot haha sorry. Will do my best to fix that this sem break.

The next day is a complete one-eighty from the last. Snow still falls over the castle and its grounds, but the whiteness is now soft and fluffy, _inviting_ rather than foreboding.

Rin watches from his spot on the balcony as Makoto opens his arms for the kitten from last night, its white coat a dead ringer for the fallen snow. The kitten knocks into Makoto with such force that it knocks back the hood of his cloak, showing soft brown hair that moves with him as he chuckles. Rin’s fingers fumble with the bandage wrapped tightly around his arm, and from somewhere underneath his imposing figure – his heart skips a beat.

“I’ve never felt this way before,” Rin says, wide-eyed and disbelieving. The laughter brightens up the clear green of Makoto’s eyes like a ray of sunshine would a cloudy day, and Rin finds himself drawn to Makoto as he walks across the snowy grounds, kitten snugly in his large, muscular arms.

 _Lucky little cat_ , Rin thinks, with a considerable amount of jealousy backing up his thoughts. Never had he thought that _he_ , Prince Rin, firstborn of the house of Matsuoka, would ever become honest-to-goodness jealous of a goddamned cat.

“I want to do something for him,” Rin says, decisively, definitely not at all because he didn’t want to lose to a cat. “But... _what_?”

“You can always go the usual route,” Nagisa pipes up, cheerfully, the flames of his candles bright like his excited eyes. “Y’know, flowers, really nice pebbles, _barely-there swimwear_...”

Rei clears his throat, once, a faint pink flush tinting his clock face. It’s obscure enough to not be noticed at first glance, but Rin misses nothing. “ _Nagisa-kun_ , I don’t think any of those suggestions would be of any help for Rin-san.”

“ _Weeeeeeell_ ,” Nagisa drawls, an impossibly saucy expression on his face, “They worked on _you_ , didn’t they, Rei-chan?”

Rin decides to take pity on his youngest friend and save him from his blazing cheeks and stuttering words. “Yanno what, Nagisa, I don’t wanna hear about it. Sometimes I really pity Rei for putting up with you for all these years.”

“Love is a _terrible_ thing,” Rei mutters, grousing half-heartedly.

“Sounds _dreadful_.” Rin scoffs. “Looks like I’ve no choice in the matter, though. I mean, look at him, he’s _gorgeous_ and _kind_ and _earnest_ and that little sweetheart seems to take so well to him. I am obviously left with nothing else to do but start falling.”

“That little one was the only one who didn’t like you, wasn’t she, Rin-chan?” Nagisa says, smirking. “Yanno, I bet she’s telling on you right now, pleading with Mako-chan to save him from the scary beast who keeps hoarding meat and _hogging her scratching posts_ –”

“Don’t be rude to your _Prince_ , for crying out loud.” Rin groans, before turning back to the last member of their party. “You got any ideas, Sousuke? I’m game for anything that _doesn’t_ require barely-there swimwear.”

Even though Makoto would probably look _ravishing_ in that... _no_ , Rin. _Bad_ Rin. _Stop that_.

“Well, if you were to ask me, ‘cuz, I think you’re better off going with common interests.” Sousuke drawls, smirking at his best friend's flushed face. “I guess it’s time to introduce Makoto-kun to that little sweetie’s family.”

Sousuke _always_ has the best ideas.

* * *

 

Things just keep getting better after that, which is not a sentence that Rin ever expected he'd say. Makoto had been floored by the outhouse filled top-to-bottom of adorable kittens - the only kind of animals that did  _not_ want to run away upon sight of Rin's large, super-scary, totally beasty form - and had told Rin that yes, he'd help Rin take care of them so long as Rin wanted his help. (And oh God, does Rin _want_ his help. Want _him_ , in _general_ , actually.)

So a few hours together led into spending all their waking hours together, until each day bled into the next in a blissful euphoria of _living with Makoto_ in one beautiful blur that Rin cannot believe he is living, he cannot believe that this is his life right now.

That means that today is Rin's twenty-first birthday and he has someone he is head-over-heels, hopelessly in love with. And said someone has spent - how long has it been, one month, two months, half a year? - with him and has yet to start running for his life. Take that, evil witch who said no one would ever love Rin without his good looks. Ha.

"You've got to tell him soon, Rin-Rin." Nagisa croons, as the enchanted bathtub fusses over Rin's unruly coat. "As in, pronto, I mean, I  _know_ you like developing your relationship at its own pace and all, but you're kinda working on a deadline here." For further emphasis, he taps one of his metal appendages on the glass where Princess Gou, his poor little sister, has been slumbering for the better part of ten years.

Rin favors his sleeping sister with a fond smile before turning back around to growl at Nagisa. "Easy for  _you_ to say, Nagisa. You've basically been married to Glasses since you were, what? Six? Seven? Lemme guess, you didn't even have to worry that he might not like you back, because you two are the most obvious lovestruck idiots in the history of for _ever_. You're so lucky. I _hate_ you."

From where he's standing by the door, Rei visibly deflates - it was a figure of speech, why is that kid so damned _sensitive_ \- but Nagisa just keeps on goddamned  _talking_. "Aw, that's just the nerves talking, Rin-chan, we know you don't mean that! And confessing is so totally easy, as long as you make sure to not put silly little things like angst and tears in the way. See, watch me - Rei-chan?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"Ah - well. Um. I love you too, Nagisa-kun."

"See? Easy."

Rin helps himself out of the bathtub, trying his best not to make the bathwater turn into a very inconsiderate puddle on his bathroom floor. (And failing. Why the hell did he have to be so goddamned _large_.) "You conveniently left out the part where the two of you had been having this exchange since you were ten, and that even after all those years Rei  _still_ turns into a tomato every time you do this."

" _Rin-san_!!!"

"What can I say, he's a shy boy."

"Figures." Rin concedes. "What about you, Rei? Any advice for me? You know sappy things like this aren't exactly my forte."

"Just be honest, I guess." Rei says, smiling fondly at his friend as he instructs the enchanted coat hanger (Aki-san, an old friend) to fix ribbons on Rin's wild tufts of red fur. "Makoto-san would very much appreciate your honesty. And without a doubt, no matter how he reacts to your confession, he will be graceful about it."

"Thanks, bro." Rin grins at his friend, leans back against his comfy chair, only to see the big picture and realize - "Rei,  _what the hell have you had them do with my hair?!?_ "

"Well - Rin-san, I thought you would be happy to see that I got you ribbons in your favorite neon colors - "

"CHANGE IT RIGHT NOW!!"

"I'm sorry, Prince Rin! Let me fix it, Prince Rin!" Rei babbles, his appendages trembling as Rin smirks and Nagisa laughs in the background. Rin knows that making fun of his friend is a bad thing, but Rei's jittery self is a thing to behold, _seriously_.

* * *

 

 

Before Makoto walked into the ballroom an hour ago, butterflies in his belly, his heart on his sleeve, he had turned to Sousuke and told him: "Thank you for giving me your blessing."

Sousuke had nodded, once, and said, "Please take care of our Rin."

...which is why Sousuke is beyond disappointed to see Rin with his hands on his knees, looking out the window as Makoto rushes off into the night. "What happened?"

"Mako used the magic mirror," Rin says, falling into the familiar nickname with ease. There his one true love is, walking off to go God-knows-where, and Rin still has a goddamned smile plastered onto his face, what the hell is wrong with him. "He saw that Haru was passed out trying to get here, so he said he has to fetch him."

"But..."  _But time is running out, Rin_. "But it's dark outside. Why didn't you go with him?"

"He said this had to be something he does himself." Rin says, matter-of-factly. "Why'd you ask, Sousuke?"

"'Cuz, Rin." Sousuke says, voice hard with worry, "It's  _nighttime_. There are  _wolves_ outside, or did you just forget that entirely?"

" _Oh_."

_Crap._

* * *

 

“Mako, darling.” Rin sighs, brushing away a falling teardrop ever-so-gently with a furry finger. “We have gotta stop meeting like this.”

“Yeah,” Makoto says, traitorous tears falling like raindrops on Rin’s blood-red shirt. Just a few hours ago he had been leaning into that shirt, white and pristine, as Rin lead him across the ballroom floor. It feels like forever ago, now. “We probably should.”

“We’ve got no choice but to stop, though,” Rin mutters, offering Makoto a smile. The blood is especially striking against his sharp white pointed teeth. “I don’t think I can meet you again, Mako.”

“Don’t talk like that, Rin, please don’t.” Makoto sobs, his hand ghosting over Rin’s mouth, as if he were to catch all Rin’s breaths for him so he could keep on being here with Makoto forever. “We’re together now. It’s going to be fine.”

“Haru...right?” Rin grunts, turning minutely to the third party of their company with great effort. “Y’still standing?”

“Mm.” Haru replies. His blue eyes still look glazed with the heaviness of illness, but he is standing, his wobbling minutely decreasing from when Makoto first saw him. “I am.”

“G-good. When I’m gone, you bring Mako to the castle. It’s yours now. My people’ll take care of you. It’s the least I could do...”

“The least, the least you can do, Rin,” Makoto cries, stumbling over his words like a newborn babe, “is to stop thinking such things. We’re all going back to the castle. I’ll have Sousuke prepare hot water and I’ll tend to your wounds, just like before, and you’ll be all stubborn about the warm water like you were back then but still you’ll be fine, you hear me? Rin, you’ll be fine.”

“Hush, Mako, love, it’s all right, it’s seriously all right.” Rin breathes shallowly, his shaking paws reaching ever-so-slowly up to ruffle Makoto’s hair. “At least – at least. I still got to see you, for the...the last time...”

“Don’t say those words Rin, please don’t say such cruel things, Rin, I swear...”

“Swim away for me, Makoto.” Rin sighs, and there’s so much naked emotion in his words that Makoto’s heart can’t help but break, no no no not now, not that, don’t say that and mean it, please, not when I’ve only just found you – “Be free.”

Rin’s hand falls limp from Makoto’s hairline and Makoto lets out an anguished scream. Haru steps closer to them, tentatively, as if afraid his touch might turn Makoto into a mass of soap bubbles popping into obsolescence. “Makoto, the pack night still catch up to us. The river is calm; we should probably go now.”

“No!” Makoto wails, leaning completely away from Haru’s comfort, greedily holding on to Rin like a blinded man chasing sunshine. “No, I won’t, Haru, I can’t leave him. I won’t ever leave him again. I love him and I’m never letting him go. The least he could do...” he sobs into Rin’s mangled shirt, perfectly aware of the sickly metallic smell of blood tainting the sweet familiar musk of his coat. Makoto’s voice is just this far from full-blown hysteria. “...the very least he could do, was not leave me behind.”

Makoto doesn’t see him, too lost in his grief to do so, but from where he’s standing guilt stains the beautiful blue clarity of Haru’s eyes; if things were to come to this he’d have preferred being left to die in the rushing river rapids than watch Makoto lose the man who he knew held his heart completely. After all, Makoto was the one who loved him the most for all his life; said life would be but a small price to pay.

“You hear that, Rin? Please don’t leave me, don’t leave me behind, not when I love you.” Why had I never told him this before, when it’s nothing but the truth? “I’m in love with you, Rin. Please come back to me.”

The woods are silent save for the breeze ruffling Haru’s hair and all Makoto’s wretched sobbing noises. It feels like the end of the world.

But then -

A spark, a single, brilliant spark, bounces through the grass and Haru watches, enthralled and unmoving, as it makes its way to the deep gashes in Rin’s bloodied side.

The spark has a sound very much like a bell, and Makoto can’t help but think of how Nagisa had once said that Rin was very much like a bell, all shiny and loud (“He’s even got the name for it too! Rin-Rin!”), so he disentangles from Rin’s blood-red torso to see what might be a hundred thousand brilliant flecks of light bouncing across the grasslands like disembodied firefly lights.

The lights combine into ribbons and blankets and hammocks, gently cradling Rin’s body in its warm radiance, and at once Makoto is compelled to reach for him but the lights raise Rin up higher, higher than Makoto can possibly dare to reach, and Makoto is about to fall to his knees and sob mindlessly for the next half-hour, but -

 – but -

 – but then he sees it, peeking out of the spaces where the light ends and where Rin’s tattered cloak begins. A hand. A pale, unmarred, human hand.

Then a foot. And another. As well as another hand. Rin’s shirt sags as it is filled with a less broad, man-sized muscular chest. The fur around his large head explodes into a brilliant explosion of light, and Makoto’s thinking the worst by now, but then he gets set down and the lights dim away and Makoto sees pale skin and a familiar shade of hair and blinking wine-red eyes that can’t stop looking at him, as if he were the most important thing in the universe.

It’s the way Rin used to look at him, and if the love in his eyes had always been this obvious Makoto wonders why he never noticed it before.

“Mako...Makoto?” he says, in a voice less growly than Makoto’s used to, and though he’s pretty sure this is Rin Makoto still can’t help but take a step back in disbelief. “Hey, it’s just me.”

Rib’s familiar wine-red meets Makoto’s grass-green and now Makoto is absolutely sure of it. “Rin. Rin! It is you! But how...”

“I still can’t believe it. You really said it, Mako?” Rin asks, almost babbling by now, carding a hand through Makoto’s hair almost reverently. “I didn’t just, like, have that as a fever dream or something, right?”

“Nah, I don’t think I’d remember sobbing ‘I love you’ into your large furry chest if it were a fever dream, Rin.” Makoto deadpans, leaning in closer to Rin’s addictive warmth like he always wanted to because now he can, isn’t that a thing of beauty. “It’s true. I love you, Rin.”

“Aww, you beat me to it.” Rin says, with an extremely impressive fake pout that makes Makoto giggle before he covers it up quickly with an extremely earnest expression. Makoto knows what he’s going to say next; doesn’t mean his heart doesn’t skip a beat, though. “I love you, Makoto.”

When Rin cradles Makoto’s face carefully in his new human hands and kisses him, it’s like nothing he’s ever felt before. It’s pretty hard to think around the crackle-pop of fireworks that must be going on in his head right now, but Makoto tries anyway. Rin’s lips are soft and warm and surprisingly he still retains a lot of his canines in this human form and he thinks that’s sort of endearing, in a way.

Haru clears his throat somewhere in the middle of their second round of kissing,

“Oh, right, the in-law.” Rin drawls as Makoto clears his throat, twice, in embarrassment. “I know I kinda already gave you both co-ownership of my lovely castle, but as far as bride prices as concerned – hmm. Would a majority stake in the pool I first caught you enjoying be enough.”

“Makoto is worth more than your silly pool, but I’m not complaining.” Haru monotones. “And beside. You make Makoto happy. That’s worth more than any silly trinket you can offer. You have my blessing, but,” a quick flash of possessive rage flashes through Haru’s eyes, almost quick enough for Makoto to miss but intense enough for Rin to flinch. “If you ever be as rude as to die in front of Makoto again, I will snatch you from the afterlife myself and rip you apart with my own hands. Understood?”

"Yessir." Rin blurts out, frozen under the force of Haru's surprisingly scary glare.

"Now that you guys have gotten that sorted out," Makoto says, genuine glee in his tone, "let's go home."

"Yeah," Rin concedes, snaking an arm around Makoto's waist, pulling him closer into a kiss. "Great idea."

* * *

 

"...hands where I can see them, Rin."

"- _guh!_ Shut  _up_ , Haru!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all for now!! I'm sorry the scenes sorta came out...err, kinda disjointed? Hopefully I'll get to rewrite the entire middle part of this chapter, but for now, here it is. I hope you like it!
> 
> In the end Gou wakes up and officiates over the marriage of her brother and his love as two handsome dorks bound together in holy matrimony. Also: Haru spends 90% of his life lounging around in Rin's beautiful pool, wants Gou to marry them too, and eventually Rin smacks him over the head for that.


End file.
